History VideoGame / ShadowsOfDoubt

In the game, the player is tasked with performing various types of detective work, such as taking odd jobs posted around the payphones of the city, and investigating the murders that crop up. After some time wandering the streets, the game will determine a citizen to become a SerialKiller, and have them kill a target, leaving a CallingCard which gives the player a lead. Depending on how the generation works, the player may need to investigate the victim's workplace, use an odd clue to try and figure out the killer's name, or use the victim's contacts to narrow down who may potentially know them enough to want them dead, among other methods. This being a simulation, it is very possible for a lead to turn up a dead end, or a clue to be too vague at first, becoming more clear in later crime scenes.

** The PointOfDivergence is 1610, when English inventor William Lee's stocking frame knitting machine sparked a glorious industrial revolution in France. This didn't occur in reality because King Henri IV was assassinated, causing Lee to lose the backing of the French royal court, fail to find a market for his machine, and die in poverty.
** After divergence, Bonnie Prince Charlie overthrew the Hanover dynasty in England in 1745 with help from a much wealthier France, cementing peace between the kingdoms. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette presided over the union of France and England into the Anglo-French Empire, which reigns over most of western Europe and North America through the end of the 19th century.

* AmericaIsStillAColony: Thanks to France and England joining into the Anglo-French Empire, the American Revolution was swiftly suppressed in 1776.

** Light switches glow in the dark, saving the player time and energy of scanning every inch of the room with their flashlight just to brighten up the place.

* ArtificialMeat: Artificial animal meat, invented by Starch Kola, is the norm everywhere, and is sometimes blended with "reconstituted" real meat to make things like burgers and fried chicken.

* BlackMarket: A black market hides somewhere in the Fathoms of every city. They exist in the gameplay mainly to supply would-be murderers with firearms, since private gun ownership is illegal in the UAS. However, black markets also keep partial records of their customers, so if an active killer is using a gun of some kind, it's usually worth it to check the local black market for recent gun purchases.

* CallingCard: Murder scenes will usually contain at least one of these, whether it be a message scrawled in red nearby the corpse, or an object left behind at the scene of each crime. More often then not, the object variety will have the killer's fingerprints on them.

* CityNoir: The city is quite grim, with people working dead end jobs in the vague hope of obtaining retirement, large buildings with many apartments and companies, and of course, a lot of crime.

* CommonLawMarriage: Implied, as marriage related terms are never used, with cohabiting couples always being referred to as partners.

* FleurDeLis: The flag of the Anglo-French Empire bears four fleur-de-lis surrounding Saint George's Cross.
* FloodedFutureWorld: With industrialization occurring earlier and being much more extensive in the game's timeline, GlobalWarming was recognized as a looming calamity as early as 1910. By 1979, so much of the world is underwater that it caused a major food shortage, and cars fell out of use and now rust in the streets because roadways between cities are submerged. Even the cities aren't completely dry, the sub-basement levels of every building are persistently flooded.

* ImmersiveSim: The city is fully simulated, and every citizen has their own routine that they will follow, and there is no set story beyond the basics, and new cases will be generated over time. Many methods of investigation require some knowledge of how the systems tie together.

* InfiniteFlashlight: You've got one. It's apparently built into your head, since it doesn't actually appear in your inventory and you can activate it while holding something else in your hands. You ''will'' need it, since some areas of the game (like cupboards) are very dark, and it can be disadvantageous to switch on a light when you're trying to sneak around.

* KeyUnderTheDoormat: A possible feature for apartment complexes to generate with is doormats, and there’s a small chance any given doormat will have a key hidden underneath, which you can claim if you shift the doormat away. This is much more likely for apartments on the lower floors of the building; the wealthy elites who occupy the top floors seem to be more security-savvy.

** Being wet from the rain or a shower can make you slip if you run on a certain surfaces.
** Being stinky from being close to bad smelling objects or simply not showering will make you easier to detect.

* StupidCrooks: Murderers use the same dialogue system as every other character, so there's a chance that if you show them a photo of their victim, they'll mention seeing them . . . at the exact time and place they were murdered, which is basically a confession. Worse yet, some of them, if confronted in their apartments, will grant you their fingerprint and/or even let you look around, allowing you to gather all the rest of the evidence you need to put them away.

** SoftGlass is averted; punching out a glass window can injure your hand. Trying to pull an OpenSaysMe by kicking down a locked door can also injure your foot, on top of being extremely noisy. On the flipside, should you break open the door and someone is on the other side, you will knock them out cold, because a 50-100lb. piece of wood being shoved open in their face is not good for their health.
** WeBuyAnything is also averted; only dedicated pawn shops will buy items off you.

** Killings are rarely truly random; while motives aren't always clear, just like in real life, many victims are killed by people they know: friends, coworkers, neighbors. There is almost always a connection.

* WithThisHerring: On top of the issues mentioned under SuspectIsHatless above (getting missions with absurdly few clues), you're also just a civilian with no authority. You can only legally search a location if you get the suspect's permission, and for equipment, you start with just a watch, a flashlight, and a fingerprint scanner. You even have to buy your own handcuffs and weapons... and if you get in trouble, don't even think about backup coming.
* WorstAid: Starch Kola's eponymous product was originally marketed as a cure for radiation sickness during the Mustard War.

* ShoutOut: The icon for "Coming Through", the Steam achievement for KOing someone by kicking in a door, is a pixelated version of the "Here's Johnny!" scene from ''Film/TheShining''.

* SuspectIsHatless: Sometimes, the arrest jobs give you amusingly little to go on. As an example, you might be provided only the target's first initial, salary, and phone number with which to start searching for them. Particularly unhelpful cases will start you with nothing but a blood type and a building, and expect you to get a suspect out of ''that''.

* SentryGun: The cornerstone of private security system in ''Shadows of Doubt''.

* HideYourChildren: Considering the deeply ''noir''-inspired setting and the gruesome murders happening on a regular basis, the game's decision to remove kids is probably a smart choice in that it lowers the amount of NPC 'clutter' in the world and prevents the emergent AI from generating a either [[WouldHurtAChild child killer]] or [[EnfantTerrible a homicidal toddler]].

* PurelyAestheticGender: Technically it's not ''quite'' aesthetic, as a character's gender is recorded on their paperwork and can be used to verify their identity. Apart from that, there is no gameplay effect; all characters are equally likely to be criminals or victims regardless of gender.

* TacticalDoorUse: While NPCs ''are'' able to open doors normally, you can buy a door wedge from City Hall that jams any door you place it on until it's removed, allowing you to (for example) search an apartment in peace while the occupant is away, without worrying that they'll come home and catch you while you're still inside.